Financial institutions that target elderly customers with inappropriate products and advice are hiding behind legislation which does not allow them to be named and shamed, according to the country’s financial watchdog.

Financial Ombudsman Joe Meade wants the power to publish the details of companies that target customers, particularly the elderly, with poor advice.

The number of complaints made to the ombudsman in the first half of the year almost doubled to 3,900 compared with the same period last year.

The latest report reveals the biggest award was where a financial institution was ordered to pay €345,000 to a couple in their 70s who had been advised to take their money off deposit and invest it for five years, nine months in a managed fund.

Mr Meade called on financial houses to review every product sold to pensioners since 2006 to see if they were appropriate.

The ombudsman said he would also be writing to the Department of Finance this week asking for power to publish the names of institutions he deems have acted inappropriately.

He stressed, however, that he did not want such powers to stop people coming forward with complaints in case they feel they will be named themselves. "My job is to deal with complaints and provide restitution, I’m doing that now but I should have the option, if I deem it in the public interest, to name offenders," he said.

"Legislation would have to be brought in and the Government and the Oireachtas would have to consider whether a system that is working very well should be changed."

Labour’s spokesperson on consumer affairs, Senator Brendan Ryan, said the ombudsman should be allowed to publicly name financial institutions. "I believe that it is only where financial institutions are publicly named and shamed that this sort of conduct will end."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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